Measuring Client Interactive Performance Using a Display Channel

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and computer programs for measuring performance of virtual desktop services offered by a server computer are presented. The method includes receiving an action request at the server computer, where the server computer is configured to generate display views for the requesting client. The method further embeds, at the server computer, a first encoded area into a first image frame that is communicated to a client computer when acknowledging receipt of the action request. After the action associated with the action request is completed, the method embeds a second encoded area into a second image frame that is communicated to the client computer. Action performance time is stored in memory, where the action performance time is based on the time difference between arrivals of the first and second image frames at the client computer. The stored timing information is used to generate statistical performance data.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a Continuation Application under 35 USC §120 andclaims priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 12/337,774 entitled“MEASURING CLIENT INTERACTIVE PERFORMANCE USING A DISPLAY CHANNEL,” andfiled on Dec. 18, 2008, and which is herein incorporated by reference.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related by subject matter to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/337,895, filed Dec. 18, 2008, entitled “MEASURING REMOTEVIDEO PLAYBACK PERFORMANCE WITH EMBEDDED ENCODED PIXELS,” and which isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to methods and systems for measuringperformance of remote displays, and more particularly, methods andsystems for measuring performance of remote displays in a virtualdesktop environment.

2. Description of the Related Art

The computing industry has seen many advances in recent years, and suchadvances have produced a multitude of products and services. Computingsystems have also seen many changes, including their virtualization.Virtualization of computer resources generally connotes the abstractionof computer hardware, which essentially separates operating systemsapplications from direct correlation to specific hardware. Hardware istherefore abstracted to enable multiple operating systems andapplications to access parts of the hardware, defining a seamlessvirtual machine. The result of virtualization is that hardware is moreefficiently utilized and leveraged.

In a typical virtualized desktop infrastructure architecture, userdisplays and input devices are local, but applications execute remotelyin a server. Because applications are executing remotely, a latencyelement is introduced due to network travel time and applicationresponse time. One method of assessing the performance of remoteapplications is by measuring the response times for various events.These response times are the result of aggregating latency acrossdifferent components in the architecture. Measuring these latencies,however, is a challenge as measurements must encompass latencies relatedto both the low level events (such as mouse movements) and the highlevel events (application launches), as well as work across networkboundaries and a range of client devices. While recording the start ofan event on the client side is straightforward, recording the end of theevent accurately is challenging due to the lack of semantic information,such as for example, knowing when an application has launched ordetecting when a character has appeared on the screen.

It is in this context that embodiments of the invention arise.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide methods, systems, andcomputer programs for measuring performance of virtual desktop servicesoffered by a server computer. Timing information is communicated viaembedded pixels in the display channel enabling performance analysisindependent of the underlying communication protocols.

It should be appreciated that the present invention can be implementedin numerous ways, such as a process, an apparatus, a system, a computerprogram, a device or a method on a computer readable medium. Severalinventive embodiments of the present invention are described below.

In one embodiment, a method for measuring performance of virtual desktopservices offered by a server computer is presented. The method includesreceiving an action request at the server computer. At the servercomputer, a first encoded area is embedded into a first image frame thatis communicated to a client computer when acknowledging receipt of theaction request. After completing the action associated with the actionrequest, the method further embeds at the server computer a secondencoded area into a second image frame that is communicated to theclient computer after completion of the action. An action performancetime is stored in memory, the action performance time being based on thetime elapsed between arrivals of the second and first image frames atthe client computer. In other embodiment, the method operations areperformed by a computer program when executed by one or more processors,the computer program being embedded in a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium.

In another embodiment, a method measures performance of a virtualdesktop application at a client computer. The method includes sending anaction request to be executed at a server computer, and polling videoframes received at the client computer until a first encoded area isdetected in a first image frame. The encoded area indicates that theserver computer received the action request. Further, the method pollsvideo frames received at the client computer until a second encoded areais detected in a second image frame indicating the completion of theaction associated with the action request. The action performance timeis stored in memory, where the action performance time is based on thedifference between the arrivals of the first and second image frames.

In yet another embodiment, a system measures the performance of virtualdesktop services. The system includes a server computer and aperformance server. The server computer is configured to process anaction request. The server computer includes a server agent thatreceives the action request, and a workload module in communication withthe server agent. The workload module is configured to embed a firstencoded area into a first image frame that is communicated to the clientcomputer when acknowledging receipt of the action request, to process anaction associated with the action request, and to embed a second encodedarea into a second image frame that is communicated to the clientcomputer after completion of the action. The performance server receivesan action performance time from the client computer and stores in memorythe action performance time. The action performance time is based on thetime difference between the arrivals of the first and second imageframes at the client computer.

In other embodiment, a system for measuring performance of virtualdesktop service includes means for receiving an action request at theserver computer, and means for embedding at the server computer a firstencoded area into a first image frame. The first image frame iscommunicated to a client computer when acknowledging receipt of theaction request. The system further includes means for completing theaction associated with the action request, and means for embedding atthe server computer a second encoded area into a second image frame. Thesecond image frame is communicated to the client computer aftercompletion of the action. The system further includes means for storingin memory an action performance time, which is based on a timedifference between arrivals of the first and second image frames at theclient computer.

Other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the followingdetailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may best be understood by reference to the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 depicts a remote desktop environment including virtual machineservers, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows an architecture for measuring display performance usinginformation sent on the display channel and detected on a minor buffer,in accordance with one embodiment.

FIGS. 3A-D describe different methods for sending encoded information onthe display channel, according to different embodiments.

FIG. 4 shows a timing diagram for measuring response time at the serverusing in-band and out-of band messages, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows a timing diagram for measuring response time at the serverusing in-band messages, according to one embodiment

FIG. 6 depicts one embodiment of a network diagram for adding in-routeinformation to the display channel.

FIG. 7 shows a graphical representation of performance data for anaction type, Microsoft® Office Word modify, and different configurationsof Virtual Machines (VMs) per core, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows a graphical representation of latency as a function of thenumber of VMs per Logical Unit Number (LUN), according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 9 shows the process flow for measuring performance of virtualdesktop services offered by a server computer.

FIG. 10 shows the process flow for measuring performance of a virtualdesktop application at a client computer.

FIG. 11 is a simplified schematic diagram of a computer system forimplementing embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the invention include methods, systems, and computerprograms for measuring performance of virtual desktop services offeredby a server computer. The method includes receiving from a clientcomputer an action request to be executed at the server computer, wherethe server computer is configured to generate display views for therequesting client. The method further embeds, at the server computer, afirst encoded pixel into a first image frame that is communicated to theclient computer when acknowledging receipt of the action request.Further, the method embeds a second encoded pixel into a second imageframe that is communicated to the client computer after completion ofthe action associated with the action request. Action performance time,also referred to herein as the server latency, is stored in memory,where the action performance time is the time between arrivals of thefirst and second image frames at the client computer. The stored timinginformation is used to generate statistical performance data.

It will be obvious, however, to one skilled in the art, that the presentinvention may be practiced without some or all of these specificdetails. In other instances, well known process operations have not beendescribed in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the presentinvention.

FIG. 1 depicts a remote desktop environment including virtual machineservers, also referred to as enterprise servers, according to oneembodiment. The environment depicted in FIG. 1 includes enterpriseservers 102 that provide virtual desktop services to remote users 136a-m. Although embodiments of the present invention are described withina virtual desktop system, the embodiments presented can be used in otherenvironments with a remote display application transmitting display datato a remote client.

In one embodiment, performance server 138 is also part of virtualizationserver 102. Performance server 138 collects performance data fromservers and clients and analyzes the data collected for presentation toa user. A simplified architecture of virtualization server 102 is shownin FIG. 1, with some components omitted for simplification purposes.Virtual infrastructure layer 106 manages the assignment of virtualmachines (VM) 104 a-n in enterprise server 102 to remote users. Remoteusers 136 a-m are connected to computers 122, 124 and 126 acting asclients in the virtual infrastructure. Computers 122, 124 and 126provide display presentation and input/output capabilities associatedwith virtual machines 104 a-n. Clients include PC 122, laptop 124, PDA,mobile phone 126, etc. Clients communicate with virtualization server102 via network 120.

Virtual machines 104 a-n include a Guest Operating System (GOS)supporting applications running on the guest OS. A different view ofvirtual machine 104 n includes desktop view 110, workload module 112,and server agent 114. Server Agent 114 is a process executing in the VMthat processes action requests from local client 128 and provides actionstart and completion times. On the other end, a local client 128includes display 130, remote desktop client 132 and frame buffer 134.Desktop view 110 corresponds to the display for the virtual machine,which is transmitted to display 130 at local client 128. The displayinformation is received by frame buffer 134 and remote desktop 132updates display 130.

A frame buffer is a video output device that drives a video display froma memory buffer containing a complete frame of data. The information inthe buffer typically consists of color values for every pixel on thescreen. Color values are commonly stored in 1-bit monochrome, 4-bitpalettized, 8-bit palettized, 16-bit highcolor and 24-bit truecolorformats. Virtual Machine 104 n communicates with the associated localclient over network 120 using a remote protocol, such as Remote DesktopProtocol (RDP). Remote Desktop Protocol is a multichannel capableprotocol that supports separate virtual channels for carryingpresentation data, serial device communication, licensing information,highly encrypted data (keyboard, mouse activity), etc.

In one embodiment of a remote computing environment, messaging takesplace via the data channel, such as the data channel in RDP, and via thedisplay channel used for screen updates, usually in the form of a newrectangle updates for the display. Events on the two channelscorresponding to the same operation are not always synchronous. Themoment the display channel completes its update is the moment that theuser views and perceives that the task previously requested hascompleted. Measuring display updates is then crucial to rate userexperience when operating in a remote environment. It should be notedthat display updates arrive almost always later than the data channelupdates for the same operation.

Embodiments of the invention measure the performance of the virtualenvironment as seen by users 136 a-m. Control messages are encoded inthe display channel (in-band messages) instead of using otherout-of-band channels. In many cases, the display channel is the onlychannel that reaches the client machines because of firewalls and otherobstacles between servers and clients. Additionally, the embodimentspresented are independent of the communications protocols used totransfer display data, thus being able to reliably obtained performancemeasurements under different topologies and protocols and assess howdifferent factors affect virtual desktop performance. Further still, themethods presented can scale to tens of thousands of clients and serverswithout unduly burdening the virtual infrastructure.

FIG. 2 shows an architecture for measuring display performance usinginformation sent on the display channel and detected on a minor buffer,in accordance with one embodiment. Rather than using the data channel,server 104 notifies client 128 of particular events using a specificsection of the screen. A specific area of the screen is designated tocarry information in the form of encoded pixels that correspond topredefined messages. For example, the area can be a pixel, a square, arectangle, a line, a circle, etc. as described in more detail below withreference to FIGS. 3A-D.

Initially, a user action, such as a mouse click, is detected at remotedesktop application 132. The action is sent to server agent 114 viaclient module 204 and then forwarded to workload application 112.Workload application 112 processes the action received and sends theaction to the appropriate module in the virtual machine that willprocess the action. Once the response to the action is complete,workload application 112 notifies server agent 114 and embeds theencoded pixel in the display view. Frame buffer 134 receives the updateddisplay via remote protocol channel 116, and client module 204 scans forand detects the encoded pixel when the action requested as beencompleted.

Mirror buffer 202 holds a copy in memory of frame buffer 134 to lowerthe amount of processing required by client module 204 to scan forencoded pixels. Display mirroring technology is widely employed byremote desktop applications such as: NetMeeting, PC Anywhere, VNC,Webex, etc. Mirroring performs better than primitive screen grabbing,because mirroring allows the capture of only the minimally updatedregions of the display and retrieves data directly, bypassing theintermediate copy. One example of a minor buffer commercially availableis DFMirage, a video driver mirroring technology for the Windows NT OSfamily. DFMirage is a driver for a virtual video device managed at theDisplay Driver Management Layer (DDML) level of the graphics system thatexactly minors the drawing operations of one or more physical displaydevices. In another embodiment, client module 204 inspects frame buffer134 directly without using a minor buffer.

Table 1 below shows a list of defined actions used in one embodiment tomeasure remote desktop performance. The list is meant to be exemplaryand other combination of actions can be identified for performancemonitoring. In another embodiment, other actions beyond those related tospecific applications can be monitored, such as a mouse pointer movingover a button or a window, a keyboard input, a mouse click, etc.

TABLE 1 Application Operations Word Open, Modify, Save, Close, Minimize,Maximize Excel Open, Sort, Save, Close, Minimize, Maximize PowerPointOpen, Slideshow, Modify slide, Append slide, Save, Close, Maximize,Minimize Internet Explorer Open, Browse, Close Firefox Open, Close AdobeAcrobat Open, Browse, Close, Minimize, Maximize WinZip Install,Uninstall Pkzip Compress Outlook Open, Send, Receive, Close, Compose,Reply, Minimize, Maximize

In one embodiment, measuring response times in a client server remotedisplay environment is performed by having the server notify the clientof the start and stop of a particular task via messages over the datachannel. The server also communicates a corresponding update through thedisplay channel. Client module 204 polls a predefined co-ordinate on thescreen for a display update notification. The method enables thesimulation and automation of a real user experience when operating in aremote setup. It should be noted, that using the data channel inaddition to the display channel is an optimization to prevent excessivepolling on the client side, especially when the mirror driver does notimplement callback functionality. In another embodiment, communicationson the data channel are omitted, as seen below with respect to FIG. 5.

In one embodiment, server agent 114 ensures that an encoded pixel is notsent unintentionally by monitoring display updates and making sure thatthe display data does not include an encoded pixel as part of a regularvideo update. In another embodiment, a different constant encoded pixelis sent in the display frames between the start and stop display frames.For example, the start pixel can be a red pixel, the stop pixel can be agreen pixel, and a white pixel is included in all the display framesbetween the red and green pixels.

In another embodiment, the encoded pixels are included in more than oneframe to add redundancy and diminish the number of inaccuratemeasurements due to missed updates. In yet another embodiment, anencoded pixel is embedded in the start frame and all the followingframes until the action requested completes.

FIGS. 3A-D describe different methods for sending encoded information onthe display channel, according to different embodiments. In FIG. 3A,pixel 302 is used to include encoded messages. Each message is encodedwith a different pixel value. For example, a teal pixel (0xffooff) isused for an operation start message and a red pixel (0xFF0000) for anoperation complete message. In another embodiment, the same encodedpixel value is used for the start and complete messages, thus thepolling at the client scans only for a specific value. For example, if avalue of 0x0 (black) is used for the encoded pixel, the scanning needsonly to check for a pixel value equal to zero, resulting in lesscomputing cycles and reduced scanning overhead.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3B, several encoded pixels are used tocommunicate information to the client. The additional pixels can be usedfor redundancy purposes to facilitate detection of false positives or todetect a corrupted encoded pixel. The additional pixels can also be usedto communicate extra information. For example, the second pixel can beencoded to indicate the application associated with the request (i.e.Microsoft PowerPoint), or to encode a frame number, a timestampassociated with the video frame, the server identification, the runningcore identification, etc. In one embodiment, the information is encodedusing one byte per bit of information, by assigning a 0 value to oneparticular byte value and a 1 value to a different byte value. Encodingeach bit into a byte of data solves the problem associated with someremote communication protocols that can lose some of the videoinformation in order to improve overall performance by delivering videothat is almost the same as the original, but requiring a lower amount oftransmitted data.

In other embodiment, one bit of information is encoded over multiplepixels or several bytes of pixel data, such as two, three or more, whichcan be helpful when pixel data suffers lossy compression duringtransmittal. In yet another embodiment, a bit of information is encodedin a sub-pixel of pixel data. A sub-pixel is an intensity value for acolor component of one pixel. Typically, the sub-pixel defines intensityinformation for a red, green, or blue component of the pixel. For 24-bit“Truecolor,” where each sub-pixel is encoded as one byte (8 bits) ofpixel data, then each bit is encoded in one byte. But, if the sub-pixelrequires a different amount of storage, then each bit would be encodedusing the amount of storage required for the sub-pixel. For example, in16 bit “Highcolor,” the red and blue sub-pixels are encoded with 5 bitsof data each, wheras the green sub-pixel is encoded with 6 bits.

Some video and image compression algorithms rely on a technique known aschroma subsampling, wherein chroma, or color information, is sampled ata lower resolution than the luma, or brightness information. In thiscase, using sub-pixel information might be unreliable for individualpixel data. Where chroma subsampling is used, each bit of informationmay be encoded using an overall intensity of the pixel, rather thandiscriminating on the basis of sub-pixel information. In this case,white and black pixels may be used so that each pixel correlates to onebit of information. Various techniques can be implemented to obtain anaccurate overall intensity value. For example, since the green colorcomponent carries most intensity information, the green color componentfor each pixel can be used alone to identify the bit value.

Several bits can be combined together to form a word, such as a framenumber. In one embodiment, RBG encoding is used where each pixel isencoded as three bytes, and each byte is used to encode one bit ofinformation, resulting in 3 bits of encoded information per pixel. Eachbyte is encoded as 0x00 or 0xff. If the frame number is encoded as a24-bit value, then 8 pixels are used to encode the frame number.

It should be noted that for description purposes, some embodimentsdescribed herein refer to one encoded pixel. The person skilled in theart will readily appreciate that where one encoded pixel is described,embodiments described herein can be expanded to cover informationencoded within a group of pixels. The group of pixels can be used torecord more bits of information, add redundancy to the informationencoded, encode bits using more than one byte, etc.

FIG. 3C shows a group of encoded pixels inside a rectangle of a videoframe. In one embodiment, the rectangle corresponds to the top leftcorner of the video frame, but other configurations are also possible.In another embodiment, several rectangular areas can be usedsimultaneously, which include unique information in each rectangle orinclude redundant information to improve reliability.

FIG. 3D shows a configuration of encoded pixels in line 308 of the videoscreen. The line can be horizontal, vertical, or in any other direction.The line can also be a complete horizontal or vertical line within thevideo display, or can be just a segment of a line (which would besimilar to rectangle 306 of FIG. 3C with a width of one pixel). In oneembodiment, the line can be several pixels wide.

A large encoded pixel area, such as line 308, is useful for monitoringpurposes during testing as the encoded pixels can easily be observed byvisual inspection. In yet another embodiment, the whole video frame isgiven an encoded pixel value, such as a red pixel, that results in aflashing video display when encoded messages are received at the client.

It should be appreciated that the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 3A-Dare exemplary arrangements of encoded pixels within a video frame. Otherembodiments may utilize different arrangements or different pixelvalues. The embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 3A-D should therefore notbe interpreted to be exclusive or limiting, but rather exemplary orillustrative.

FIG. 4 shows a timing diagram for measuring response time at the serverusing in-band and out-of band messages, according to one embodiment. Inthe embodiment shown in FIG. 4, action requests are simulated by theclient module in order to increase the number of action requestsgenerated in a testing environment. In another embodiment, the actionsare generated by user interaction and the client module detects theaction requests that are then sent to the server. It should be noted,that timing information is exemplary and the timing descriptions areaimed at facilitating understanding of events and not actually drawn toscale. Actual timing may vary from the timing information shown in FIG.4.

The client module sends a start operation request, e.g., in the form ofan action, such as a mouse-click event, to the server agent thatforwards the request in the form of a proxy start message to theworkload module. The client module starts polling the display aftersending the start operation message to detect a “start displaynotification” message from the server. The workload module passes therequest to the appropriate application at the server and then sends the“start display notification” to the client. The “start displaynotification” is sent in the display channel, also referred to as thein-band channel.

Once the client polling detects the “start display notification”, atimer is started to measure the time used by the server to complete theaction requested. The user sees the operation start in the display oncethe start display notification is received.

Once the operation ends at the server, the workload module sends an “endoperation” message via the data channel, herein referred to as theout-of-band channel. When the “end operation” message is received by theclient, the client starts polling for display updates to detect the endof the operation in the display. After sending the out-of-band message,the workload module sends an in-band “end display notification” messagein a display frame.

When the “end display notification” is received at the client, thepolling detects the encoded information in the display channel and stopsthe timer in order to measure the amount of time between receiving thestart and end display notifications, denoted as “remote operationallatency” in FIG. 4. The user views the operation end in the display atthe same time that the “end display notification is received”. Theremote operational latency measurement is stored in memory and can besent to central performance server 138 (FIG. 1) that collectsperformance data for one or more clients.

In another embodiment, the client also measures the amount of timebetween sending the original start operation and receiving the startdisplay notification to provide additional information on round-triprequest processing time, noted as network latency in FIG. 4.

FIG. 5 shows a timing diagram for measuring response time at the serverusing in-band messages, according to one embodiment. The method of FIG.5 relies on in-band messages exclusively, that is, no out-of-bandmessages are sent. The result is that the polling of the display on theclient side starts after receiving the start display notification.

FIG. 6 depicts one embodiment of a network diagram for adding in-routeinformation to the display channel. Adding encoded information in thedisplay channel can be expanded by adding encoded pixels at differenttimes and by additional entities involved in the processing of clientrequests. In FIG. 6, compression modules 604 and 608 perform compressionand decompression of data before being sent thorough wide area network(WAN) 606. Encoding modules 612 and 614 inside compression modules 604and 608 add encoded pixels to the display channel before compressing thevideo data to provide travel information of the display data. In oneembodiment, timestamp and server identification are encoded in thedisplay data by encoding modules 612 and 614.

In another embodiment, additional encoded pixels are added to thedisplay frame by modules inside server 610 to identify processing timeby the different modules inside the server.

FIG. 7 shows a graphical representation of performance data for anaction type, Microsoft® Office Word modify, and different configurationsof VMs per core, according to one embodiment. Once performanceinformation is recorded in memory, the performance information can beprocessed to present aggregated statistical information. In oneembodiment, the performance information is sent to a performance server,such as performance server 138 of FIG. 1, to produce statistical datafrom a plurality of clients. FIG. 7 presents statistical data for remotedesktop services in a virtual infrastructure environment along twodimensions for the Microsoft Office Word modify action. The firstdimension is related to the number of virtual machines (VMs) perprocessing core at the server. The second dimension corresponds to theresponse time. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the response timestays substantially constant until the number of VMs per core reaches 7.At 8 VMs per core the performance degrades slightly, and at 10 VMs percore, the performance degrades substantially going from a delay of about7 seconds to a delay of 17 seconds.

The performance results are used to fine tune the virtual desktopenvironment by identifying performance bottlenecks and acting upon them.For example, the virtual infrastructure may transfer a client from oneserver to another to improve response time and load balancing.

FIG. 8 shows a graphical representation of latency as a function of thenumber of VMs per Logical Unit Number (LUN), according to oneembodiment. In the environment captured by the performance data in FIG.8, the response time deteriorates rapidly once the number of VMs per LUNgoes beyond 256. The Network Manager can use this information toidentify an appropriate limit of the number of VMs per LUN, e.g., bytransferring VMs to a different LUN, or by adding additional LUNs to thecomputing environment.

FIG. 9 shows the process flow for measuring performance of virtualdesktop services offered by a server computer. In operation 902, themethod receives from a client computer an action request to be executedat a server computer. See for example Table 1 previously presentedincluding a list of possible actions. A first encoded pixel is embeddedat the server computer in operation 904. The first encoded pixel isembedded into a first image frame that is communicated to the clientcomputer when acknowledging receipt of the action request. See FIGS.3A-D for exemplary embodiments to embed an encoded pixel.

In operation 906, a second encoded pixel is embedded at the servercomputer into the display channel. The second encoded pixel is added toa second image frame that is communicated to the client computer afterthe completion of the action associated with the action request. Inoperation 908, the method stores in memory an action performance time.The action performance time is the time difference between the arrivalsof the first and second image frames at the client computer. See thedescription of FIGS. 4 and 5 above for details on how to obtain timinginformation.

FIG. 10 shows the process flow for measuring performance of a virtualdesktop application at a client computer. In operation 1002, the methodsends from the client computer an action request to be executed at aserver computer. See for example, clients 136 a-m and enterprise server102 in FIG. 1. The client computer polls received video frames inoperation 104 until a first encoded pixel is detected in a first imageframe. The first encoded pixel indicates the receipt at the servercomputer of the action request. The client computer further polls videoframes received in operation 1006 until a second encoded pixel isdetected in a second image frame. The second encoded pixel indicates thecompletion of an action associated with the action request. In operation1008, the method stores in memory an action performance time, the actionperformance time being a time difference between arrivals of the firstand second image frames. The performance information can be processed toproduce statistical data used by network administrators. See for exampleFIGS. 7 and 8 for graphical representations of collected performancedata.

FIG. 11 is a simplified schematic diagram of a computer system forimplementing embodiments of the present invention. It should beappreciated that the methods described herein may be performed with adigital processing system, such as a conventional, general-purposecomputer system. Special purpose computers, which are designed orprogrammed to perform only one function may be used in the alternative.The computer system includes a central processing unit (CPU) 1104, whichis coupled through bus 1110 to random access memory (RAM) 1106,read-only memory (ROM) 1112, and mass storage device 1114. Program 1108resides in random access memory (RAM) 1106, but can also reside in massstorage 1114. Program 1108 can include a performance manager program,client module 204 from FIG. 2, server agent 114, workload application112, etc.

Mass storage device 1114 represents a persistent data storage devicesuch as a floppy disc drive or a fixed disc drive, which may be local orremote. Network interface 1130 provides connections via network 1132,allowing communications with other devices. It should be appreciatedthat CPU 1104 may be embodied in a general-purpose processor, a specialpurpose processor, or a specially programmed logic device. Input/Output(I/O) interface provides communication with different peripherals and isconnected with CPU 1104, RAM 1106, ROM 1112, and mass storage device1114, through bus 1110. Sample peripherals include display 1118,keyboard 1122, cursor control 1124, removable media device 1134, etc.

Display 1118 is configured to display the user interfaces describedherein, such as remote desktop view 130 from FIG. 2. Keyboard 1122,cursor control 1124, removable media device 1134, and other peripheralsare coupled to I/O interface 1120 in order to communicate information incommand selections to CPU 1104. It should be appreciated that data toand from external devices may be communicated through I/O interface1120.

Embodiments of the present invention may be practiced with variouscomputer system configurations including hand-held devices,microprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers and the like. Theinvention can also be practiced in distributed computing environmentswhere tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linkedthrough a wire-based or wireless network.

Although virtualization operations can take on many forms, severalconcepts are important to ensure that physical constructs of physicalmachines are properly transferred to virtual machines. With this inmind, and by way of reference, more information on virtual system andmethods can be found in U.S. patents owned by the assignee of thepresent application, VMware, Inc. Thus, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,397,242,6,496,847, 7,069,413, 7,356,679, and US Published Application2008/0244028 A1, are each incorporated by reference for all purposes.

For completeness, reference is made to an example server system, that isreferred to by the trademark “ESX™”, which is provided by VMware, ofPalo Alto, Calif. However, the methods, systems and embodiments are notlimited to any one brand of server or virtualization servers. Theexample ESX(x) server is a hypervisor that partitions physical serversin multiple virtual machines. Each virtual machine may represent acomplete system, with processors, memory, networking, storage and BIOS.VMware ESX enables multiple virtual machines to: (a) share physicalresources, (b) run unmodified operating systems and applications, and(c) run the most resource-intensive applications side by side on thesame server. Other servers made by other suppliers can have similarfunctionality or more or less functionality, depending on their targetproduct. Accordingly, the systems, methods and computer readable mediacan be practiced using any product, software, or hardware configuration.

With the above embodiments in mind, it should be understood that theinvention can employ various computer-implemented operations involvingdata stored in computer systems. These operations are those requiringphysical manipulation of physical quantities. Any of the operationsdescribed herein that form part of the invention are useful machineoperations. The invention also relates to a device or an apparatus forperforming these operations. The apparatus can be specially constructedfor the required purpose, or the apparatus can be a general-purposecomputer selectively activated or configured by a computer programstored in the computer. In particular, various general-purpose machinescan be used with computer programs written in accordance with theteachings herein, or it may be more convenient to construct a morespecialized apparatus to perform the required operations.

The invention can also be embodied as computer readable code on acomputer readable medium. The computer readable medium is any datastorage device that can store data, which can be thereafter be read by acomputer system. Examples of the computer readable medium include harddrives, network attached storage (NAS), read-only memory, random-accessmemory, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, magnetic tapes and other optical andnon-optical data storage devices. The computer readable medium caninclude computer readable tangible medium distributed over anetwork-coupled computer system so that the computer readable code isstored and executed in a distributed fashion.

Although the method operations were described in a specific order, itshould be understood that other housekeeping operations may be performedin between operations, or operations may be adjusted so that they occurat slightly different times, or may be distributed in a system whichallows the occurrence of the processing operations at various intervalsassociated with the processing, as long as the processing of the overlayoperations are performed in the desired way.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail forpurposes of clarity of understanding, it will be apparent that certainchanges and modifications can be practiced within the scope of theappended claims. Accordingly, the present embodiments are to beconsidered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is notto be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified withinthe scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

1. A method for measuring performance of virtual desktop servicesoffered by a server computer, the method comprising: receiving an actionrequest at the server computer; embedding at the server computer a firstencoded area into a first image frame that is communicated to a clientcomputer when acknowledging receipt of the action request; completingthe action associated with the action request; embedding at the servercomputer a second encoded area into a second image frame that iscommunicated to the client computer after completion of the action; andstoring in memory an action performance time based on a time differencebetween arrivals of the first and second image frames at the clientcomputer.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first encoded area isformed by a plurality of pixels.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst encoded area is a sub pixel of pixel data, wherein the sub pixeldefines intensity information for a red, green, or blue component of apixel.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first encoded area is arectangle or a square of a video frame.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the first encoded area is a line of pixels.
 6. The method asrecited in claim 1, further including sending an out of band messagefrom the server computer to the client computer before communicating thesecond image frame, the out of band message being sent on a channeldifferent from a channel transmitting the image frames.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein values for the first encoded area and the second areadiffer in at least one of color or intensity, the first encoded area andthe second encoded area having a same location in their correspondingimage frames.
 8. The method of claim 1, further including embedding athird constant area into all image frames communicated between the firstand the second image frames.
 9. The method of claim 1, further includingembedding the first encoded area in n consecutive frames following thefirst image frame, wherein the client computer samples one out of everyk incoming frames to detect the first encoded area, k being equal to orsmaller than n plus
 1. 10. The method of claim 1, further includingembedding additional encoded areas into the first image frame before thefirst image frame is communicated to the client computer, the additionalencoded areas being embedded at different stages of processing withinthe server computer.
 11. The method of claim 1, further includingstoring in memory action performance times from a plurality of clientsrequesting actions from the server computer.
 12. The method of claim 11,further including generating statistical performance metrics based onthe stored action performance times.
 13. The method of claim 1, whereinpixel information for the encoded first area is encoded in binary RGBvalues.
 14. A method for measuring performance of a virtual desktopapplication at a client computer, the method comprising: sending anaction request to be executed at a server computer; polling video framesreceived at the client computer until a first encoded area is detectedin a first image frame indicating a receipt at the server computer ofthe action request; polling video frames received at the client computeruntil a second encoded area is detected in a second image frameindicating completion of an action associated with the action request;and storing in memory an action performance time based on a timedifference between arrivals of the first and second image frames. 15.The method of claim 14, wherein the client computer includes a minorbuffer that minors a frame buffer that holds received image frames,wherein polling video frames further includes polling the mirror buffer.16. The method of claim 14, wherein the client computer includes a framebuffer that holds received image frames, wherein polling video framesfurther includes polling the frame buffer.
 17. The method of claim 14,wherein the action request is originated by a client module at theclient computer, the client module being configured to simulate userrequests.
 18. The method of claim 14, wherein the action request isselected from a group consisting of run application, open file, openwebsite, modify file, save file, close file, minimize window, maximizewindow, install, uninstall, compress, uncompress, send, or receive. 19.The method of claim 14, furthering including: receiving an out of bandmessage from the server computer, the out of band message being sent ona channel different from a channel transmitting the image frames,wherein the polling video frames received at the client computer until asecond encoded area is detected begins after receiving the out of bandmessage.
 20. A system for measuring performance of virtual desktopservices, the system comprising: a server computer configured to processan action request, the server computer including, a server agent thatreceives the action request, and a workload module in communication withthe server agent, the workload module configured to, embed a firstencoded area into a first image frame that is communicated to a clientcomputer when acknowledging receipt of the action request, process anaction associated with the action request, embed a second encoded areainto a second image frame that is communicated to the client computerafter completion of the action; and a performance server that receivesan action performance time from the client computer and stores in memorythe action performance time, the action performance time being based ona time difference between arrivals of the first and second image framesat the client computer.
 21. The system of claim 20, wherein theperformance server receives action performance time information from aplurality of clients, the performance server creating statisticalperformance data based on the performance time information received fromthe plurality of clients.
 22. The system of claim 21, wherein theperformance server shows the created statistical performance data on adisplay.
 23. The system of claim 20, wherein the server computerimplements a virtual machine, the client computer implementing a remotedesktop application associated with the virtual machine implemented atthe server computer.
 24. The system of claim 20, further including, anintermediate server configured to, receive the first image framecommunicated by the workload module, embed a third encoded area in thefirst image frame, and forward the first image frame to the clientcomputer, wherein the third encoded area is configured to provide travelinformation related to the first image frame.
 25. A computer programembedded in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, whenexecuted by one or more processors, for measuring performance of virtualdesktop services offered by a server computer, the computer programcomprising: program instructions for receiving an action request at theserver computer; program instructions for embedding at the servercomputer a first encoded area into a first image frame that iscommunicated to a client computer when acknowledging receipt of theaction request; program instructions for completing the actionassociated with the action request; program instructions for embeddingat the server computer a second encoded area into a second image framethat is communicated to the client computer after completion of theaction; and program instructions for storing in memory an actionperformance time based on a time difference between arrivals of thefirst and second image frames at the client computer.
 26. The computerprogram of claim 25, wherein the first encoded area is formed by aplurality of pixels.
 27. The computer program of claim 25, wherein thefirst encoded area is a sub pixel of pixel data, wherein the sub pixeldefines intensity information for a red, green, or blue component of apixel.
 28. The computer program of claim 25, wherein the first encodedarea is a rectangle or a square of a video frame.
 29. The computerprogram of claim 25, wherein the first encoded area is a line of pixels.30. The computer program of claim 25, further including programinstructions for sending an out of band message from the server computerto the client computer before communicating the second image frame, theout of band message being sent on a channel different from a channeltransmitting the image frames.
 31. The computer program of claim 25,wherein values for the first encoded area and the second area differ inat least one of color or intensity, the first encoded area and thesecond encoded area having a same location in their corresponding imageframes.
 32. The computer program of claim 25, further including programinstructions for embedding a third constant area into all image framescommunicated between the first and the second image frames.
 33. Thecomputer program of claim 25, further including program instructions forembedding the first encoded area in n consecutive frames following thefirst image frame, wherein the client computer samples one out of everyk incoming frames to detect the first encoded area, k being equal to orsmaller than n plus
 1. 34. The computer program of claim 25, furtherincluding program instructions for embedding additional encoded areasinto the first image frame before the first image frame is communicatedto the client computer, the additional encoded areas being embedded atdifferent stages of processing within the server computer.
 35. Thecomputer program of claim 25, further including program instructions forstoring in memory action performance times from a plurality of clientsrequesting actions from the server computer.
 36. The computer program ofclaim 35, further including program instructions for generatingstatistical performance metrics based on the stored action performancetimes.
 37. The computer program of claim 25, wherein pixel informationfor the encoded first area is encoded in binary RGB values.
 38. A systemfor measuring performance of virtual desktop services offered by aserver computer, the system comprising: means for receiving an actionrequest at the server computer; means for embedding at the servercomputer a first encoded area into a first image frame that iscommunicated to a client computer when acknowledging receipt of theaction request; means for completing the action associated with theaction request; means for embedding at the server computer a secondencoded area into a second image frame that is communicated to theclient computer after completion of the action; and means for storing inmemory an action performance time based on a time difference betweenarrivals of the first and second image frames at the client computer.